HA-1833

The Homestead

Architectural Survey File

This is the architectural survey file for this MIHP record. The survey file is organized reverse-

chronological (that is, with the latest material on top). It contains all MIHP inventory forms, National

Register nomination forms, determinations of eligibility (DOE) forms, and accompanying documentation

such as photographs and maps.

Users should be aware that additional undigitized material about this property may be found in on-site

architectural reports, copies of HABS/HAER or other documentation, drawings, and the “vertical files” at

the MHT Library in Crownsville. The vertical files may include newspaper clippings, field notes, draft

versions of forms and architectural reports, photographs, maps, and drawings. Researchers who need a

thorough understanding of this property should plan to visit the MHT Library as part of their research

project; look at the MHT web site (mht.maryland.gov) for details about how to make an appointment.

All material is property of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Last Updated: 02-18-2004

HA-1833 c. 1904-1920 Bel Air Private

The Homestead, 221 Linwood Ave., faces west at the top of a

hill on a tree-shaded and landscaped lot facing the Emmorton Rd.

It is the only early 20th century country home with a number of

(possibly olderj outbuildings preserved within the limits of the

Town of Bel Air. The house is a 2 story, 3 bay, L-shaped, slightly

asymmetrical Colonial Revival house of rough ashlar Port Deposit

granite. Three stone and three wooden outbuildings remain of the

buildings that once served a 630 acre farm.

The Homestead is the most distinguished early 20th century

residence now within the Town limits. The house was built after

1904 by George w. Bradford, a Harford County canner who won a

silver medal for his canned goods at the 1904 New York World's

Fair. The size and elegance of the property reflect the wealth and

importance of canners in Harford County. It is a prime example,

not of a town house, but of the kind of house built as a country

show place.

HA-1833 The Homestead Bel Air, Harford Co.

FRAMEWORK FOR IDENTIFYING COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DATA

HISTORIC CONTEXT:

MARYLAND COMPREHENSIVE HISTORIC PRESERVATION PLAN DATA

Geographic Organization:

3. Piedmont

Chronological/Developmental Period:

__1L_ 11. Industrial/Urban Dominance 1870-1930

12. Modern Period 1930 - present

Prehistoric/Historic Period Theme:

2. Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Community Planning

Resource Type:

Category: Architecture

Historic Environment: Urban

Historic Function and Use: Private Residence

Known Design Source: unknown

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Survey No. ...--:,.- __ ...,, _ _.'

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Maryland Historical Trust w-=--":. -$tate Historic Sites Inventory Foriif' - ·· .,.

1. Name (indicate preferred name}

historic The Homestead

and/or common

2. Location

street & number 221 Linwood Ave.

city, town Bel Air

state MD

3. Classification Category __ district __x_ building(s) _structure _site

_object

Ownership _public ____x_ private _both Public Acquisition _in process __ being considered ~not applicable

_ vicinity of

county

Status _x_ occupied _ unoccupied _ work in progress Accessible _yes: restricted _yes: unrestricted _x_no

DOE _yes no

n I a not for publication

congressional district 3rd

Harford

Present Use _ agriculture _commercial _ educational _ entertainment _ government _ industrial _military

_museum _park ~ private residence _religious _ scientific _ transportation _other:

4. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of ~ owners)

name Mrs. Barbara Pitts

street & number 2 21 Lin wood Ave . telephone no. : 838-3404

city, town Bel Alr state and zip code MD 21014

5. Location of Legal Description

courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Harford County Courthouse liber 1342

street & number folio 960

city, town Bel Air

state HD

&. Representation in Existing Historical surveys

title

1ate _federal _ state _ county __ local

depository for survey records

city, town state

7. Description Survey No. -···--'-"· _,

Condition ~excellent _good _fair

Check one _ deteriorated _ unaltered _ ruins x altered _unexposed

Check one __!__ original site _moved date of move

Prepare both a summary paragraph and a general description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today.

Contributing resource count: seven

The Homestead, 221 Linwood Ave., faces west at the top of a n111 on a tree-shaded and landscaped lot facing the Emmorton Rd. It is the only early 20th century country home with a number of (possibly older) outbuildings preserved within the limits of the Town of Bel Air. (See part 8 for questions of dating.) The house is a 2 story, 3 bay, L-shaped, slightly asymmetrical Colonial Revival house of rough ashlar Port Deposit granite.

It has a gable roof broken on the west side of the main block by 3 shed dormers, the middle having a curve over the center of 3 windows. The flanking dormers have single windows. A matching 3 window dormer occurs on the south elevation of the ell, and a pair of shed dormers are on the north elevation of the ell. The dormers date to the 1970s. The facade is graced by a full porch carried on double columns and topped by a balustrade of lacy geometrical woodwork copied from the balustrade over the servants• quarters at Monticello. A white wooden central entrance bay in an arche -opening is composed of door (north) and panels topped by 3 smal casements (south) which light the staircase. Flanking the entry are French doors. Windows are 3/1 double-hung sash, except on the second story of the facade, where they are wider and 4/1. Black shutters flank the windows. The south elevation has a 2 story porch on square posts with two balustrades matching the one in front. A triple window on that elevation, which lights the dining room, is flanked to the west by French doors and to the east by the entrance to the back hall. The rear of the ell is 2 bay with a shed-roofed screened porch occupying 2/3 of the first level. The whole is tied together by a white cornice with short returns on the gable ends of the main block and the ell. Despite the variety of fenestration, entrances, and dormers, the strong square of the massive stone main block gives an impression of symmetry and control which is not diluted by the length of the ell.

Entry, formerly into a hall, is now directly into the living room, the north wall of the hall having been removed in the 1950s. The floors are parquet, with darker strips outlining walls and hearths. To the right (south) is an open-string, dog-leg staircase with carved brackets and a paneled square newel and square balusters. The newel has a slight but graceful turn out. The staircase is lighted by the three casements of the entrance. To the left, French doors in the west wall lead to the porch. In the north wall is a fireplace with a paneled white wooden mantel. The crown molding, which may be original, has an applied dentil stri~ which is not original. The door and window surrounds in all the public rooms have a deep profile and a cornice. Next, to the south, is a sitting room with built-in bookcases along the north

8. Significance Survey No. ~~-1633

Period _ prehistoric _ 1400-1499

. 1500-1599 -· - 1600-1699 - 1700-1799 _ 1800-1899 _x__ 1900-

Areas of Significance-Check and justify below __ archeology-prehistoric _community planning _landscape architecture_ religion __ archeology-historic _ conservation _ law _ science _ agriculture _economics _ literature _ sculpture -~ architecture _ education _ military _ social/ __ art _ engineering _ music humanitarian __ commerce _exploration/settlement _ philosophy _ theater __ communications _ industry _ politics/government _transportation

_ invention _ other (specify)

Specific dates n.ouse: 1904- 1920 f '? \.. ) Builder/ Architect unknown

check: Applicable Criteria: A B x_C D and/or

Applicable Exception: A B c D E F G

Level of Significance: ~national ~state ~local

Prepare both a summary paragraph of significance and a general statement of history and support.

The Homestead is the most distinguished early 20th century residence now within the Town limits. The house, a slightly asymmetrical Colonial Revival structure of Port Deposit granite, is a gentleman's country seat and, with its outbuildings, was once the centerpiece of a 630 acre farm. Three stone outbuildings which may date to the previous house are pre-served, along with three wooden outbuildings which were probably built during the life of the present house. The house was built after 1904 by George w. Bradford, a Harford County canner who won a silver medal for his canned goods at the 1904 New York World's Fair. The size and elegance of the property reflect the wealth and importance of canners in Harford County. It is a prime example, not of a town house, but of the kind of house built as a country show place.

The original house, pictured in an old photo in Walter W. Preston, History of Harford County, Maryland (Baltimore, 1901; reprinted 1972), was built in 1114 by William Smithson, Harford County Justice and later Circuit Court judge and signer of the Bush Declaration of 177 5. Smithson died without issue, leaving his property to a niece, Elizabeth Dorsey, wife of Col. Harry Dorsey, and her brother William. She left her share to her daughter Mary, who married William Farnandis. Mary Farnandis died in March of 1888 with a large amount of property. She left The Homestead to her son James, an invalid, for his lifetime. James Farnandis died 13 April 1904, and the property reverted to the other heirs, who were numerous.

In 1902, Thomas H. Robinson, the lawyer trustee for se111ng the real estate, sold The Homestead with 630 acres to George Bradford for $25,000. On 10 May 1904, the kitchen of the old house caught fire. When the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Department responded, they found no water supply with which to fight the fire. The property, then outside the Town limits, was not served by a water hydrant. The house was consumed.

9. Major Bibliographical References Survey No . ..: 1 .~ , .1..Lrt--LU__,....J

-~illic:~ :~. ::iierson, Jr •• ;:r-'._·ricc.n 3,i~L1inc·s ei.n:i 1;'..h~ir _Architects. Vol. I. NY, 1970.

1 O. Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property _ ........ .._....__,_...__ ___ _

Quadrangle name __ :..,'-''0_::.._1 ~·=,.,.-=~ r~-- Quadrangle scale __ J..~:_2~~---·~J~Jn~'-'--

UTM References do NOT complete UTM references

ALLJ I I I I I I I I I I Bw I I I I I I I I I Zone Easting Northing Zone Easting Northing

c L.LJ ._I _.__.. ___ I ._I ..L-...L--L-""--'-......... ol.i.J I I I I E ~ I I ._I _.___..~-- F LL_j I G ~ I I ._I .....__...__.__ _ __. H Li_j I Verbal boundary description and justification

Parcel 1628 in the Town of Bel Air, 4.61 a.

List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries

state code county code

state code county code

11. Form Prepared By

name/title Dr l\llarilynn 00 Larew

organization date 7-9-91

street & number RD l Box 21 9 New park Rd !elephone 717-993-3557

city or town New Park state PA 17352

The Maryland Historic Sites Inventory was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA, 1974 supplement.

The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.

return to: Maryland Historical Trust Shaw House 21 State Circle Annapolis, Maryland 21401 (301) 269-2438

DHCP/Cr<:·~ 100 COf\/;f\/1Ui\~!T/ ~i _:.-.. '""­

CROWNSVU.i= \\) 21032-~C: PS-2746

CONTINUATION SHEET 7.2 The Homestead HA-1833

wall and a fireplace diagonally in the south west corner with a white wooden paneled mantel resembling that in the living room but smaller. French doors in the west and south walls lead to the front and side porches. The living room and sitting room occupy the main block of the house.

The dining room is to the east of the sitting room and, with the back hall, butler's pantry, half bath, and kitchen, occupies the ell. The dining room has a fireplace, with mantel matching the one in the living room, in the north wall. Wainscotting with applied molding dates to the 1950s, as do the mantels and the rest of the woodwork in the public rooms. Based on the woodwork on the second floor, the woodwork originally had Victorian carved paterae in the corners. A south-north transverse hall runs from the entry on the south porch past the kitchen door to an arched opening into a small butler's pantry with original cupboards on the west wall. Beyond that to the north is a tiny half bath with original basin in the northeast corner. To the east of the butler's pantry-bath is the back staircase, an enclosed run rising parallel to the east wall of the pantry and paneled in tongue and groove until it reaches the landing. It dog-legs from the landing back to the south and has square post and balusters to the second floor. To the east of the back hall, the kitchen (south) and laundry room (north) complete the first floor.

on the second tloor are 5 bedrooms, one now a den/office. The front (west) bedrooms have fireplaces, the one to the south aiagona11y placed as is the one below it in the sitting room. There are 2 baths, one with original fixtures and tub, and one, off the hall, with a shower. The woodwork on this floor, curiously, has the same deep profile as that below, but the corner blocks are uncarved. There are two bedrooms and a large hall, all lighted by the dormers installed in the 1970s, on the third floor.

OUTBUILDINGS

The three stone outbuildings are constructed of a soft golden stone which is unlike that of the house. It is similar in color to the stone in the 1917 Wren Box [HA-1502j, which is said to have come from the vicinity of Lake Fanny. They may be outbuildings belonging to the original 1774 house which burned in 1904. It is impossible to date them with any certainty, as it is impossible to date the wooden outbuildings, but it seems probable that wooden outbuildings would have been destroyed by the fire that destroyed the old house.

;;The Spring Housen -- This square stone building with a hipped roof crowned by a square louvered ventilator is said to have been a spring house for cooling the milk produced when the Homestead was a dairy farm. Openings in the center of each elevation have Victorian pointed arches in brick. The opening to the north has a paneled door; the others have windows. The current owner turned the structure to use as a play house for her children. There is no indication now how the spring might have cooled the interior. A bell stands on a square wooden post to the east

CONTINUATION SHEET 7.3 The Homestead HA-1833

of this little building.

The Stone House -- This is a rectangular, single story, 3 bay stone structure with a door in the middle bay, flanked by double-hung sash windows, and a gabled roof. It stands some distance to the east and south of the main house and is surrounded by shrubbery. The south gable end of this little building is brick (the other 3 are stone; and the brick to the west looks like rubble fill. There is a small window with a tlat arch to the east. There is no chimney, although the rubble to the west may mark where it once stood. This gable end shows just how narrow the building is. The stone walls are thick, as can be seen from the interior. From the front, it looks as if the house might be servant/slave quarters, perhaps for cook and butler, but the interior is so small that one wonders if it actually was home to anybody. It seems too far from the main house to have been a wash house, and there is no sign of cauldrons. Nevertheless, it looks very like a house, rather than some farm building.

The Stone Storage Building -- This building is similar in construction and size to the Spring House, but it has only one opening ( to the southj, a flat arched one with a wooden lintel which houses the split stable door. It is currently used for storage. There are no clues to its historic use. It, too, is shrouded in shrubbery.

Wooden buildings:

The Shed -- A long rectangular board building with a shed roof is at right angles to the little stone uhouse" discussed above. It is blind on the north side and has a large ;;picture;; window on the south. Its historic use is unknown. It looks like a chicken house. The large window is obviously a recent development, since glass panes of that size are fairly recent.

To the south east of the rear of the house are two wooden buildings. The one on the west is gable-roofed and 2 storied in the half nearest the house and has recent double doors to the second story. The single story section opens to the south. It is too small to be a stable or garage, but the second story doors suggest off-loading something from a truck or waqon. Its historic use is unknown.

To the east of this structure is a single story gable-rooted. garage with a wooden sliding door on the south elevation. There are small windows in the side elevations.

These wooden structures are probably as old as the current house, although the batten ;;chicken house;; may be old.er. There is no sign of a barn, a carriage house, or a stable, suggesting that these buildings date from the age of the automobile. There is also no legend of any such buildings having been demolished. There was a farm house to the northeast of the lot where the man who farmed the land lived. That was used by the developers of Homestead Village and was demolished when they left.

CONTINUATION SHEET 8.2 The Homestead HA-1833

Research in The Aegis for two years after the fire, for l~l/ when Bradford mortgaged the property, and for 1919, the date Octavia Bradford claimed the house was built, has provided no information about when Bradford rebuilt. The original woodwork on the second floor of the house, with its deep grooves and corner blocks loddly enough, blind), is Victorian and suggests a date earlier rather than later. The original woodwork downstairs has been replaced or overlayed by Williamsburg influenced additions and offers no aid in the problem. The newel post and balustrade of the front staircase are the kind built in lesser houses in Town in the 1920s. So are the windows. If the porch balustrades, copied from Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello, are original, they may also point to a date in the 1920s, but the slight asymmetry and the odd arched entrance point to a time before the Colonial Revival style had become academic, i.e. before 1920. At present, all that can be said of the date is that it is early 20th century and after 1904.

The canning industry surrered economic reverses in the period before World War I. Bradford sold off farm land, and, when he mortgaged the property in 1917 for $12,000, he held only 156 acres. (He sold 400 acres across the .Emmorton Road to Harry Hanway in 1910 by 130/ 439. Hanway ran a dairy farm on it, and it was subsequently subdivided as Kenmore in 1924.) It seems likely that he mortgaged the property to expand his canning business for war contracts. If he built the house that year, The Aegis did not note it. He defaulted on the mortgage, and the property was sold in 1926 to William Bradford, Jr., a relative and father of Octavia Bradford, who suggested the 1919 building date. When the present owner talked to her, she remembered the fire. She also remembered Bradford's trying to corner the market in something (tomatoes?) and failing, which probably led to the mortgage default. She is now deceased. The property brought $37,500 in 1926. The same day, the second Bradford mortgaged the property for $20,000 to a bank in Alexandria, Va. He defaulted on that mortgage, probably as a result of the Great Depression. The property, now with 145.6 acres, was sold in 1935 to John D. Worthington, II, proprietor of The Aegis, for $21,500.

The Worthingtons held the property until August of 1962, when they sold it to Homestead Development Co. , the developers of Homestead Village, built to the east of the house. A son, James Mee. Worthington, worked for the development company and occupied the house. It was his wife, Lucie, who altered the downstairs woodwork and took out the entry hall wall. In May 1971, the company sold the current property to the James Worthingtons, who sold it to Edward and Barbara Pitts in August. It contained 4. 61 acres. Barbara Pitts is the current owner, but negotiations was nearing completion for its sale to the Methodist church in the meadow facing the Emmorton Road.

The exact date of the construction of the house is impossible at present to determine. The previous house burned on 10 April 1904.

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HA-1833 The Homestead 221 Linwood Ave. Bel Air, MD 21014

owner: Barbara D. Pitts

1342/960 27 Aug 1986 Edward G. Pitts

to Barbara D. Pitts separation agreement parcel 1. 4.610 a. parcel 2. lot 1, block D, plat A, section 1 Homestead Village, plat book 11/105 plat 9-28-62 parcel 2 is the house parcel 1 is the land in front of it

879/558 18 Aug 1971

873/434

559/495

239/44

James McC. Worthington and Lucie F. to

Edward G. Pitts and Barbara D. Worthington bought the 4.610 a. 31 Oct 1962 by 605/53

title to the house: 24 May 1971

Homestead Development Co. to

James Mee. Worthington and Lucie F. lot 1, block D, plat A, section 1 Homestead Village. Improvements then known as 303 Linwood.

30 Aug 1962 John D. Worthington and Annie Mccurdy Worthington

to Homestead Development Co. 247.516 a. +/-3 parcels 239/44 is The Homestead

18 Oct 1935 Michael w. Fahey, assignee of mortgage from William W. Bradford, Jr., to Potomoc Joint Stock Land Bank of Alexandria, Va., 6 Feb 1925, in default

to John D. Worthington II and Annie McC. #21,500 The Homestead is 145.6 a the mortgage (196/386), 6 Feb 1926 is for $20,000

195/425

108/68

6 Feb 1926 Robert H. Archer, assignee of mortgage George w. Bradford and Lavinia to Robert Archer

to William W. Bradford, Jr. $37,500 land and premises the mortgage (108/68), 12 Jan 1917 is for $12,000 on 156 a + this purchase is part of

19 Dec 1902 Thomas H. Robinson, trustee in equity case 3 Jan 1896 George C. Farnandis vs. James Farnandis et al

to George W. Bradford $25,000 The Homestead 630 a. The 1858 map of Harford County shows the property as belonging to Mrs. Mary Farnandis. She died in March 1888, leaving the Homestead to her son James for his life. He died 13 April 1900. The equity case was a petition for a division of the estate, which required the sale of the property because of the number of heirs and the amount of property involved.

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HA- 1833 The Homestead Bel Air, Harford Co. Bel Air Quadrangle

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